NEWLY-appointed Fremantle president Steve Harris says the club will not stray from an aggressive youth policy put in place this year as it chases its first taste of sustained success.

But the 43-year-old has reassured Fremantle supporters that patience is not required and the club plans to reward its fans sooner rather than later.

Harris, the managing director of The Brand Agency, was first appointed to the Fremantle board in 2008 but has been involved with the club in a business sense for eight years.

He will take over from Rick Hart, who was appointed president in 2002, on December 1.

He said he was optimistic and excited to be taking the reins when the club has a strong, youth-focused plan.

"I'm very fortunate to be taking over at a time when the plan's in its first year," Harris said from Fremantle Oval on Thursday.

"The most critical thing I can do... at the moment is make sure that we stick to that plan.

"We're confident that we're on the right track, and my core role, my core task, will be to make sure we stay on that course."

Fremantle has unveiled 11 debutants this season, 10 of which have been first-year players, prompting some to suggest that success for Fremantle is still some way away.

Harris wouldn't commit to a timeline, but he said Fremantle fans have been patient enough.

"It's impossible to [set timelines], but we have goals and we have objectives and it's not to get there slowly," Harris said.

"I've been a Fremantle supporter for eight years and involved with the club for eight years in a business sense.

"I want the club to succeed (and) I think Fremantle supporters have seen this year that there is a plan in place that will let us succeed and that will deliver for them and reward them."

Hart said there was a tinge of sadness leaving the club that he has served for eight years, but he said he had some great memories with the club's first final in 2003 and it's 2006 preliminary final at the top of his list.

He said there was undoubtedly unfinished business, and all of his regrets related to the club's on-field fortunes.

However, he said eight years was a "fair term for a president" and he was delighted to shake hands with Harris and pass the baton.

"He's got good business skills and good interpersonal skills – I'm sure that he will look after the club really well," Hart said of Harris.

"We've got really strong management, we've got a really good board, we have stability over recent years. We've got a plan that appears to me to be coming into place – it's just a matter of keeping that right.

"One of the things I said to him, if a premiership comes along, which it will do in his term, he has to share it with me because I do feel such a strong part of this footy club."

The club also announced today the appointment of two new board members, both of whom have played sport at the elite level and are well credentialled in the commercial world.

Stephen O’Reilly, a foundation player with the Fremantle Football Club who played 98 games between 1995 and 1999, and dual Olympic hockey gold medallist Jenn Morris have been appointed for three-year terms, commencing 1 December.

Wesfarmers managing director and chief executive officer Richard Goyder has also been re-appointed for a further three-year term.

As of 1 December, 2009 the Fremantle board will include five board members who were appointed in the past 12 months in Steve Harris, Grant Donaldson, Jenn Morris, Stephen O’Reilly and member-elected director Kate Grieve.

Their fellow board members include Ben Allan (member elected 2005), Richard Goyder (2006) and Brian O’Donnell (2006).

New appointee details

Stephen O’Reilly was a foundation member of the Fremantle Football Club, playing 98 games between 1995 and 1999, winning the Doig Medal in 1996.

In 2000, O’Reilly ended his 146-game AFL career, which included two seasons with Geelong and one season at Carlton.

Since that time he has worked at KPMG, one of the world’s largest accounting firms, where he is a senior manager in the Middle Market Advisory division of the firm’s Perth practice.

O’Reilly is an active member of the Fremantle Past Players and Officials group and is also a member of the AJ Diamond Club, one of the club’s leading coterie groups.

Jenn Morris is a manager at leading professional services firm Deloitte and has broad experience in project and program management, strategic advisory services and human resources management.

She is the current chair of the board of Healthway, the State Government’s peak health promotion body, and also sits on the board of the Western Australian Institute of Sport.

Before commencing her professional career, Morris spent more than 10 years with the Australian Women’s Hockey Team, winning Olympic gold medals at Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000.